Synergistic co-location of process plants

ABSTRACT

Legume fodder crops, grown as soil-enhancing fallow crops for sugar cane, are processed in feed mills co-located with existing cane sugar mills to produce animal feed products, such as hay, with a positive economic value. The process uses some of the sugar mills&#39; excess fibre by-product (bagasse) as the energy source for the dehydration of the fodder.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

THIS INVENTION relates to the synergistic co-location of process plants.

The invention is particularly suitable for, but not limited to, use of acane sugar mill as the location of another, additional agroindustrialprocess plant (hereinafter referred to as “the feed mill”) to processagricultural crop(s) other than sugar cane.

In particular, the feed mill may be used to process legume foddercrop(s), suitable for haymaking, such as lucerne (known as alfalfa inthe USA) which are grown as a fallow crop in the sugar cane farmingcycle.

Throughout the specification the term “legume fodder crops” shallinclude:

-   -   (a) Lucerne (alfalfa) (perennial) Medicago sativa    -   (b) Clovers (perennial) numerous varieties    -   (c) Soybeans (annual) Glycine max    -   (d) Lespedeza (annual) Lespedeza cuneata    -   (e) Cowpeas (annual) Vigna ungulculata    -   (f) Trefoil (perennial) Trifollum sp    -   (g) Mung beans (annual) Vigna sp    -   (h) Lablab beans (annual) Dilochus lablab or Lablab purpureus    -   (i) Velvet beans (annual) Mucuna sp    -   (j) Stylo (perennial; South American equivalent of lucerne)        Stylosanthes sp.    -   (k) Townsville stylo (annual) Stylosanthes humilis        and the like.

Such crops have the following advantages:

-   -   1. They are high yielding (tonnes per hectare).    -   2. They are rich in protein.    -   3. Their protein's essential amino acids composition is better        balanced for feeding animals than grain protein.    -   4. They are the highest in calcium of farm-grown feeds.    -   5. They have high vitamin A value, even higher when artificially        dehydrated.    -   6. They are rich in other vitamins.    -   7. They increase the yield of grasses when grown together, or        successively.    -   8. They are very important in maintaining soil fertility.        Nitrogen fixing bacteria in legume root nodules increase yields        of succeeding crops by increasing soil nitrogen supply and        making soil nitrogen more chemically active and available.    -   9. Deep rooted legumes such as lucerne and sweet clover        penetrate and open up soil layers below the plough line. The        roots provide organic matter which keeps the soil particles        aggregated and porous, this improving soil structure.    -   10. For optimum ongoing results it is best to grow legumes in        regular crop rotations with other crops.

(2) Prior Art

Cane sugar mills require very large capital investment, which can onlybe recovered during the relatively short cane crushing season(s), whichmay total 5 to 7 months per year.

Similarly, the associated transport infrastructure, which, in the caseof cane railway systems, is also a very significant capital investment,is only used for half of the year.

The use of cane sugar mills to produce products other than cane sugarfrom sugar cane is known.

The journal article “System for the Production of Electricity, LeafProtein and Single Cell Protein from Sugar Cane Top and Leaves” (K.Deepchand), reported at Solar Energy Vol. 35 No. 6, pp 477-482. 1985,describes the processing of sugar cane tops and leaves, to providefeedstock for protein separation and bio chemical production of singlecell protein.

The journal article “The Use of Sugar Cane and By-Products forLivestock” (T. R. Peston) reported in Chemistry and World Food Supplies:the new frontiers, Chemrawn II: untitled papers presented at theInternational Conference on Chemistry and World Food Supplies, Manila,Philippines, Dec. 6-10, 1982, published by Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1983,pp 221-236 describes the fractionation of sugar cane stalks to producejuice and digestible fibre fractions for feeding ruminant andmonogastric animals.

In both articles, the processing only relates to sugar cane or sugarcane by-products of the sugar cane harvesting/milling processes.

Jeremy Woods, Department of Life Sciences, Kings College, London, UK

-   http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ip/jwoods/sorghum/thesis/Ch2.pdf-   http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ip/jwoods/sorghum/thesis/Ch3.pdf-   http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ip/jwoods/sorghum/thesis/Ch4.pdf-   http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ip/jwoods/sorghum/thesis/Ch5.pdf-   (Date of publication is unconfirmed)    discloses integrating sweet sorghum into a sugar cane mill. The    thesis describes the processing of sweet sorghum, which is a grass    type of crop somewhat similar to sugar cane, in the sugar cane mill    itself to produce fermentable materials as feedstock for ethanol    manufacture and combustible fibre as a fuel source.

The crushing and processing of sweet sorghum to produce a sweet sugarysyrup (in much the same way that sugar cane was crushed and processed inthe early nineteenth century) is well known and was practised in the USAuntil the early twentieth century, after which it was discontinued as acommercial exercise, presumably because it was uneconomic. (Referhttp://www.herculesengines.com/sorghum/default.html.)

It must be noted that the end product of the process is not an animalfeed product, and the growth of sweet sorghum as a fallow crop for sugarcane would be expected to reduce the yield of succeeding crops, assorghum has a reputation for reducing the yield of succeeding grass typecrops (e.g. grains, sugar cane) due to its relatively low nitrogencontent.

The sorghum process disclosed by Woods does not include the followingadvantageous features of the present invention:

i. A processing plant separate from the sugar cane processing plantwhich can operate in parallel with, or independently of, the sugar caneprocessing plant;

ii. The processing of a legume fallow crop, the cultivation of whichcrop has positive benefits for the succeeding sugar cane crops;

iii. A product which is a storable animal feedstuff and moreparticularly, one which is high in protein, and for these reasons morevaluable than the sorghum process products;

iv. The use of the sugar mill's excess energy resources in the form ofwaste heat in its boiler flue gases or in its fibrous by-product bagassefuel, as the energy source to dehydrate the legume fodder crop to renderit storable.

Legume fodder crops have been grown for many years as a source of storedanimal feed, e.g. hay, but full nutritive benefits of such stored animalfeed, e.g. hay, have not been realisable due to losses arising inconventional harvesting and processing methods.

The Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) (USA) notes thefollowing with regard to Alfalfa Production:

“Alfalfa has been grown as a source of animal feed for many years.Methods for producing and harvesting the crop for hay have greatlyimproved over time, however, one of the major problems associated withalfalfa hay production requires the crop be dried in the field andsubjected to weather related yield and quality losses.

Alfalfa provides many agronomic and environmental benefits toagriculture. Alfalfa;

1. is an alternative, high value crop;

2. increases soil structure;

3. increased soil organic matter; and

4. provides a perennial legume into the rotation to help break diseaseand insect cycles.

Despite the advantages, alfalfa acreage and production has decreased by10% and 13%, respectively, from 1986 to 1997. The decreased productionhas occurred while the price of alfalfa has increased over 30%. Some ofthe reasons why production levels have decreased during this timeincluding the following:

1. Limited means to control quality.

-   -   The crop is subject to yield and quality losses while drying in        the field;    -   Mechanical losses during crop collection [i.e., after drying in        the field];    -   Many alfalfa processing plants have been lost with plant        inefficiency [i.e., energy inefficient because of high fuel        costs for drying], the inability to supply high quality product        and the lack of focus on the customer's needs; and    -   Blending facilities are not available to guarantee product        formulation.

2. Harvesting is difficult to schedule; and

3. There is no well established system to market the product.”

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to use a cane sugar mill as thelocation of another, additional feed mill to process legume foddercrop(s) to produce an animal feed product.

It is a preferred object to provide the feed mill to process the legumefodder crop(s), such as lucerne/alfalfa or the like, which are grown assoil-enhancing fallow crops on sugar cane farms to generate a positiveincome from such fallow crops.

It is a still further preferred object to use the existing sugar canetransport system/infrastructure, e.g., the cane railway system, totransport the legume fodder crop.

It is a still further preferred object to co-ordinate, schedule andintegrate the harvesting and transport of the legume fodder crop withthe sugar cane harvesting and transport to minimise delay betweenharvesting and processing in order to maximise the nutrient value of theprocessed crop.

It is a still further preferred object to use the waste heat and excesspower produced by the sugar mill from the combustion of its by-productbagasse to process the legume fodder crop most economically.

It is a still further preferred object to arrange the sugar mill processso that sufficient excess by-product bagasse is made available forstorage and use as fuel for processing the legume fodder crop duringthose months of the year when the sugar mill is not in use processingsugar cane, in order that the amount of legume fodder crop to beprocessed may be maximised.

It is a further preferred object to provide such a feed mill which canprocess both coarse and fine dry fibre and which can mix the fibre withextracted juice concentrate, molasses and the like.

It is a still further preferred object to provide a feed mill which caneffect pressure compaction, cubing, extrusion, moulding, tableting,granulation, agglomeration, briquetteing, baling, bagging and other likeprocessing of the resultant feed.

Other preferred objects will become apparent from the followingdescription.

In one aspect the present invention resides in a method of processing alegume fodder crop (as hereinbefore defined), including the steps of:

(a) delivering with minimum delay, freshly harvested legume fodder cropto a feed mill located at adjacent to a cane sugar mill;

(b) processing the crop to seek optimised cell breakage and/orfiberisation (i.e., separation of fibre particles) in the resultantshredded material, depending on final product specifications asrequired; and

(c) drying the shredded material using heat supplied by the cane sugarmill or from by-products of the cane sugar mill to produce a driedanimal feed material, suitable for long term storage.

Preferably, the method includes the further step:

(d) mixing the dried material with suitable liquid binder(s) to producea feed meal material of suitable moisture content as required for use.

Preferably, in step (a), the freshly harvested crop is delivered to thefeed mill in bulk using the transport system/infrastructure of the canesugar mill.

Preferably, in step (b), the harvested crop is shredded using heavy dutyshredder/hammermill machines.

Preferably, the juice is extracted, concentrated, and stored in liquidconcentrate tank(s).

Preferably, in step (c), the shredded matter is dried using hot flue gasfrom the sugar mill boiler, or from a separate furnace fired with sugarcane bagasse either fresh from the cane sugar mill or from a stockpile.

The dried shredded material may be separated into coarse (e.g., stem)and fine (e.g. leaf) dry fibre fractions, which may be selectivelyrecombined during later processing.

Preferably, in step (d), the liquid binder(s) include molasses, juiceconcentrate and other suitable liquids to achieve the desired moisturecontent.

During, or after, step (d) other ingredients and additives such asvitamins, minerals, digestion improvers, antibiotics, otherpharmaceuticals and the like may be added to increase the value of thefeed meal material.

After step (d), the feed meal material may undergo further processingsuch as pelletising, crumbling, granulation, agglomeration, pressurecompaction, cubing, extrusion, moulding, tableting, briquetting, baling,bagging or the like to suit the market requirements.

In a second aspect, the present invention resides in a method ofprocessing a legume fodder crop (as hereinbefore defined) including thesteps of:

(a) delivering with minimum delay, freshly harvested legume fodder cropto a feed mill located at adjacent to a cane sugar mill;

(b) processing the crop to produce cut and/or shredded material; and

(c) drying the cut and/or shredded material using heat supplied by thecane sugar mill or from by-products of the cane sugar mill to produce adried animal feed material, suitable for long term storage.

Preferably, the method includes the further step:

(d) baling the dried cut and/or shredded material (or hay).

Preferably in step (b), the crop is processed using rotary knives to cutand/or shred the fibrous material, if necessary to meet productrequirements.

Preferably, after step (d), the baled material (or hay) is outloaded orcontainerised for transport.

Preferably, at step (d), molasses may be mixed with the dried material(or hay) to increase the nutritional value thereof.

In third and fourth aspects, the present invention resides in a methodfor producing an animal feed product including the steps:

growing a legume fodder crop (as hereinbefore defined) as asoil-enhancing fallow crop for sugar cane; and

processing of the crop by the method of the first and second aspects,respectively.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To enable the invention to be fully understood, preferred embodimentswill now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows a systems diagram for the operation of the invention duringthe sugar cane crushing season;

FIG. 2 is a similar systems diagram for the sugar cane non-crushingseason;

FIG. 3 is a feed mill system diagram for the feed mill shredder andoptional juice extraction and concentration plant subsystems;

FIG. 4 is a feed mill system diagram for the drying plant and optionalsize separation and degritting plant subsystems;

FIG. 5 is a feed mill system diagram for continuous mixing and optionalbatch mixing plant subsystems;

FIG. 6 is a feed mill system diagram for the pellet mill subsystems;

FIG. 7 is a feed mill system diagram for the outloading and baggingplant subsystems;

FIG. 8 is a systems diagram (similar to FIGS. 1 and 2) for the operationof the invention with a separate hot gas generating furnace; and

FIG. 9 is a systems diagram (similar to FIG. 8) for the production of abaled hay product.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, freshly harvested legume fodder crop LF e.g.lucerne/alfalfa, is transported to the feed mill 10 (to be hereinafterdescribed in more detail), co-located with a cane sugar mill 20, on fulltrucks 21 of a common existing sugar cane SC railway or road transportsystem 22, the empty trucks 23 being dispatched to be reloaded with thelegume fodder crop.

The operation of the cane sugar mill 20 during the sugar cane crushingseason is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1 and incorporates a sugarmill process unit 24. Molasses MO produced from the sugar cane isdirected to a storage tank 25 and/or the feed mill 10; while bagasse BAis directed to a stockpile 26, from which it is drawn off to fire aboiler 27 which provides high pressure (H.P.) steam for the powerhouse28 to generate electricity, which can be employed to operate the feedmill 10. Hot dry flue gas HDG from the boiler 27 is used to dry theshredded crop.

In the non-crushing season, schematically illustrated in FIG. 2,molasses MO can be drawn from the storage tank 25 to be mixed with theshredded fibre; and bagasse BA can be drawn from the bagasse stockpile26 to fire the boiler 27 (under reduced steaming) or a furnace with nosteam, the hot dry flue gas HDG from the boiler 27 and/or the furnace27A being used to dry the shredded crop.

Where the boiler 27 supplies high pressure (H.P.) steam to the powerhouse 28, the sugar mill evaporators in the process unit 24 can be usedas condensers to condense the exhaust or low pressure (L.P.) steam fromthe power house 28 with the condensate CO being returned as feedwater tothe boiler 27.

The general process steps followed in the feed mill 10 are schematicallyillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 (and will be described in more detail withreference to FIGS. 3 to 7).

The feed mill 10 receives the fresh harvested legume fodder crop, whichis passed through shredders/hammermill machines in the shredder 11.After shredding, the juice may be extracted and concentrated, to bedescribed with reference to FIG. 3.

Wet shredded fodder WSF is fed to the drying plant 12, to be dried bythe hot dry flue gas HDG (as shown in FIG. 1), and the resulting coolwet gas CWG may be vented to atmosphere. The dried shredded material maybe sized and oversized fibre material may be reprocessed, as describedwith reference to FIG. 4.

The dry shredded fodder DSF is fed to a mixing plant 13 (as shown inFIG. 1) and may be mixed with molasses and/or concentrated juice CJand/or other liquids to produce a feed meal FM material of suitablemoisture content.

As hereinbefore described, other ingredients and additives (eg.vitamins, minerals, antibiotics) may be added to the feed meal FM in themixing plant 13.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the feed meal material is fedto a pellet mill plant 14 to be pelletised, and then the pelletised feedproduct FP is conveyed to a bulk outloading/bagging plant 15 for supplyto customers.

It will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee that the pelletmill plant 14 and bulk outloading/bagging plant 15 can be replaced byother suitable processing/dispatch plants to suit the particularintended application/use of the feed products.

The power house 28 can supply power to operate the shredder 11/dryingplant 12/mixing plant 13/pellet mill plant 14/bulk outloading/baggingplant 15.

As shown in more detail in FIG. 3, the freshly harvested fodder crop LFis emptied from the full trucks 21 via :a tipper 16 and the fresh fodderis conveyed via a fodder elevator 17 to the shredder 11.

From the shredder 11, the wet shredded fodder WSF is transferred to acounter-current juice dilution/extraction plant 18. Diluted juice DJ isdirected to a low temperature juice concentration plant 19, andconcentrated juice CJ can be fed to the mixing plant 13, or furtherprocessed into a “leaf protein concentrate” as described for example byFrance Luzerne in Great Britain patent GB 1528783 Vegetable MatterTreatment.

Water W from the low temperature juice concentration plant 19 isrecycled to the counter-current juice dilution/extraction plant 18, withexcess water EW being sent to a drain 30.

The fibre F, after extraction of the juice, is fed to a vibrating screen31 and oversize fibre OSF is separated and conveyed back to the fodderelevator for further processing in the shredder 11.

Undersize fibre USF is transferred to the drying plant 12.

As shown in FIG. 4, the undersize wet fibre USF is dried by the hot drygas HDG via a drying system in the drying plant 12. The dried fibre andgas mixture is fed to a gas/solids separator 32 and the wet gas is drawnoff by a fan 33 and vented to atmosphere.

The dried fibre DF, from the separator 32, may be directed to anoptional size separation subsystem 34, where a particle size separationdevice 35 separates the fibre into coarse dry fibre CDF (e.g. stems) andfine dry fibre FDF (e.g. leaf).

The coarse dry fibre CDF may be subjected to an optional degrittingsubsystem 38, where a vibrating screen 39 separates grit GR (suitablefor recycling to farms via mill mud) from the coarse dry fibre CDF.

In the mixing plant 13, shown in more detail in FIG. 5, coarse dry fibreCDF via a proportioning diverter 41; fine dry fibre FDF, via aproportioning diverter 42; molasses MO (supplied from the mill tank 25or processing unit 24), stored in a heated molasses tank 44, with pump45; and/or concentrated juice CJ, stored in concentrate tank 48, withpump 49; are selectively fed to a continuous coarse feed mixer 50 andcontinuous fine feed mixer 51, to produce respective coarse and finefeed meal, CFM and FFM, received in respective coarse and fine feed mealholding bins 53A, 54.

Other ingredients OI (e.g. vitamins, other feedstuff nutrients) are heldin other ingredients holding bins 55 and are supplied to respectivebatch mixers 56,57 for mixing with the coarse and fine feed meals andthereby supply to the respective coarse and fine batch holding bins58,59. (The coarse and fine feed meals may bypass BP the batch mixers56,57.) The coarse and fine batch holding bins 58,59 supply the pelletmill plant 14.

As shown in FIG. 6, the coarse feed meal/mix CFM MX from the coarsebatch holding bin 58 is fed to a pellet mill 14A to be pelletised, andthen to a cooler 60. The cooled pellets may bypass the crumbler 61, andare fed to a vibrating screen 62, where undersize pellet particles anddust US are returned to the incoming coarse feed meal/mix forreprocessing.

The coarse feed product CFP can be directed to bagging operations 63and/or bulk outloading bins 64, as shown in FIG. 7.

The fine feed meal/mix (F) FM MX is converted to (fine) feed product (F)FP following a similar path through pellet mill 14B, cooler 60A,crumbler 61A, vibrating screen 62A, bagging operations 63A, and bulkoutloading bins 64A.

It will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee that the processingsteps, other ingredients added, moisture content and the like can bevaried to suit the particular intended application(s) of the feedproducts.

FIG. 8 illustrates a modified embodiment of FIG. 1 where the hot dryflue gas HDG to dry the wet shredded fodder, in the drying plant 12, isprovided by the boiler 27 of the sugar cane mill 20 and/or by a separatefurnace 27A, located at the feed mill 20, which bums bagasse from thebagasse stockpile 26.

FIG. 9 illustrates a further embodiment where the legume fodder crop isconverted to baled hay BH as the delivered feed product FP with orwithout the addition of molasses MO.

The legume fodder LF crop is delivered to the feed mill 10 ashereinbefore described.

The fodder crop may be fed to rotary knives 11A, where the fibre is cutinto shorter pieces (and may be at least partially shredded).

The wet fodder WFO is then dried in the drying plant 12, as hereinbeforedescribed.

The dried fodder DFO is conveyed to a baler 13A, where it may be mixedwith molasses to increase the nutritional value of the fodder, beforebeing baled.

The resultant baled hay BH is transferred to anoutloading/containerisation plant 15A for transport to the end users.

Advantages of the preferred embodiments of the present inventioninclude:

A. Basic Process Advantages

1. Immediate post harvest processing minimises loss of nutrients.

2. Maximum cell breakage improves availability and digestibility ofnutrients.

3. Drying prevents microbiological degradation of nutrients.

4. Process fits in with sugar mill processes to extend the economicutilisation of capital equipment in sugar mills.

5. Results in more effective use of the energy available in the sugarmill's by-product bagasse enabling more economic value to be added tothe legume fallow crop thereby generating more income for the majorstakeholders in the cane sugar industry. This opportunity is notavailable in the competing beet sugar industry and so presents asustainable competitive advantage for the cane sugar industry over thebeet sugar industry.

6. Raw material crop can be selected to fit in with sugar cane farmingsystems.

B. Potential Process Modifications

1. The basic process may be improved by extracting the juice from thefreshly shredded material prior to drying the fibrous residue.

2. The juice extracted may be concentrated at a relatively lowtemperature so as not to damage its nutrient value and further processedto concentrate, flocculate and separate its precipitable proteincontent. This concentration could be done by evaporation under partialvacuum or by a membrane process such as ultrafiltration, nanofiltrationor reverse osmosis provided such process did not harm the nutrient valueof the juice.

3. The dried material, whether the juice has been extracted or not, maybe separated by physical means such as screening and/or aerodynamicseparation techniques into stem material and leaf material.

4. The separated leaf and stem materials, and the concentrated juice maybe used to make a range of specially formulated products.

C. Advantages of Potential Process Modifications

1. Leaf material is more digestible and of higher nutritional value thanstem material.

2. Leaf, stem and concentrated juice can be recombined in varyingproportions from 0% to 100% of any of them and with other ingredients toproduce a number of specially formulated feed products.

3. Physical separation processes can also be used to remove mineralparticles (grit) above a certain particle size.

The inventor has calculated out a typical seasonal scenario to take intoaccount likely seasonal variations in lucerne growth rates and also tomaximise the quantity of lucerne able to be processed given a limitedquantity of sugar cane.

The implications of this calculation are:

1. The lucerne processing rate needs to vary from 60% to 150% of theaverage rate;

2. The energy efficiency of the sugar mill process must be maximised(i.e., steam consumption minimised);

3. The generation of hot gas from incineration of bagasse in a separatefurnace (not forming part of a boiler) needs to be carried outthroughout the year to a greater or lesser extent depending on thelucerne processing rate and the sugar mill process steam demand; and

4. Approximately 20% of the total bagasse produced must be stockpiledfor use during the non-crushing season.

D. Overall Benefits of the Process

The principal technology innovation is taking a legume crop, such aslucerne, grown as a soil enhancing fallow crop within the sugar canecropping cycle, and dehydrating it at a processing plant co-located witha cane sugar mill and using some of the sugar mill's excess fibreby-product bagasse as the energy source for the dehydration process. Theend product of this process is an animal feed product, e.g. lucerne hay,which is a high value commodity both nutritionally and economically.

The benefits of this system are:

(i) The production of a high value additional product within the sugarcane cropping cycle at minimal cost; and

(ii) The synergistic effect of improved sugar yields per unit of farmarea from the use of a legume fallow crop. This is brought about by:

a. improved the soil structure from deep rooting perennial legumes suchas lucerne;

b. improved soil biochemistry from the fixing of nitrogen in the legumeroots and the ploughing in of the final post harvest stubble;

c. reduced incidence of disease and parasites of the sugar cane plantbrought about by breaking the biological cycles of these with theintroduction of the legume crop into the cropping cycle; and

d. in certain situations, lucerne in particular will assist in reducingsoil salinity problems.

The critical advantage is generating substantially more income andprofitability for core sugar industry stakeholders i.e., growers andmillers, within an integrated farming, processing and logistics system.The production of the animal feed products may increase income by e.g.20-30%.

Various changes and modifications may be made to the embodimentsdescribed and illustrated without departing from the scope of thepresent invention.

Synergistic Co-Locatioon of Process Plants Diagrams Legend

ITEM DESCRIPTION 10 FEED MILL PLANT 11 SHREDDER 11A ROTARY KNIVES 12DRYING PLANT 13 MIXING PLANT 13A BALER 14 PELLET MILL PLANT 14A PELLETMILL (COARSE) 14B PELLET MILL (FINE) 15 BULK OUTLOADING/BGGING PLANT 15ABALE OUTLOADING/CONTAINERISATION 16 TIPPER 17 FODDER ELEVATOR 18 JUICEEXTRACTION PLANT 19 JUICE CONCENTRATION PLANT 20 SUGAR MILL PLANT 21FULL TRUCKS 22 COMMON TRANSPORT SYSTEM 23 EMPTY TRUCKS 24 SUGAR MILLPROCESS 25 MOLASSES TANK AT SUGAR MILL 26 BAGASSE STOCKPILE 27 BOILER27A FURNACE 28 POWER HOUSE 29 30 DRAIN 31 VIBRATING SCREEN PRE-DRYING 32GAS/SOLIDS SEPARATOR 33 FAN 34 OPTIONAL SIZE SEPARATION SUBSYSTEM 35PARTICLE SIZE SEPARATION DEVICE 36 37 38 OPTIONAL DEGRITTING SUBSYSTEM39 VIBRATING SCREEN (DEGRITTING) 40 41 PROPORTIONING DIVERTER (COARSE)42 PROPORTIONING DIVERTER (FINE) 43 44 MOLASSES TANK AT MIXING PLANT 45MOLASSES PUMP 46 47 48 CONCENTRATED JUICE TANK 49 CONCENTRATED JUICEPUMP 50 COARSE FEED MIXER (CONTINUOUS) 51 (FINE) FEED MIXER (CONTINUOUS)52 53 53A COARSE FEED MEAL HOLDING BIN 54 (FINE) FEED MEAL HOLDING BIN55 OTHER INGREDIENTS HOLDING BINS 56 BATCH MIXER (COARSE) 57 BATCH MIXER(FINE) 58 COARSE BATCH HOLDING BIN 59 (FINE) BATCH HOLDING BIN 60 COOLER(COARSE PRODUCTS) 60A COOLER (FINE PRODUCTS) 61 CRUMBLER (COARSEPRODUCTS) 61A CRUMBLER (FINE PRODUCTS) 62 VIBRATING SCREEN (COARSEPRODUCTS) 62A VIBRATING SCREEN (FINE PRODUCTS) 63 BAGGING OPERATIONS(COARSE PRODUCTS) 63A BAGGING OPERATIONS (FINE PRODUCTS) 64 BULKOUTLOADING BINS (COARSE PRODUCTS) 64A BULK OUTLOADING BINS (FINEPRODUCTS) BA BAGASSE BH BALED HAY BP BYPASS CDF COARSE DRY FIBRE CFMCOARSE FEED MEAL CFP COARSE FEED PRODUCT CJ CONCENTRATED JUICE COCONDENSATE CWG COOL WET GAS DF DRY FIBRE DFO DRY FODDER DJ DILUTE JUICEDSF DRY SHREDDED FODDER EPO ELECTRIC POWER EW EXCESS WATER F FIBRE FDFFINE DRY FIBRE (F)FM FINE FEED MEAL F(FP) (FINE) FEED PRODUCT FM FEEDMEAL FP FEED PRODUCTS GR GRIT HDG HOT DRY GAS H HIGH PRESSURE STEAM LFLEGUME FODDER LP LOW PRESSURE STEAM MO MOLASSES MX MIX OI OTHERINGREDIENTS OSF OVERSIZE FIBRE SC SUGAR CANE SU SUGAR US UNDERSIZE USFUNDERSIZE FIBRE W WATER WFO WET FODDER WSF WET SHREDDED FODDER

1. A method of processing a legume fodder crop (as hereinbeforedefined), including the steps of: (a) delivering with minimum delay,freshly harvested legume fodder crop to a feed mill located at/adjacentto a cane sugar mill; (b) processing the crop to seek optimised cellbreakage and/or fiberisation (separation of fibre particles) in theresultant shredded material, depending on final product specificationsas required; and (c) drying the shredded material using heat supplied bythe cane sugar mill or from by-products of the cane sugar mill toproduce a dried animal feed material, suitable for long term storage. 2.A method as claimed in claim 1, including the further step: (d) mixingthe dried material with suitable liquid binder(s) to produce a feed mealmaterial of suitable moisture content as required for use.
 3. A methodas claimed in claim 1, wherein: in step (a), the freshly harvested cropis delivered to the feed mill in bulk using a transportsystem/infrastructure of the cane sugar mill.
 4. A method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein: in step (b), the harvested crop is shredded usingheavy duty shredder/hammermill machines.
 5. A method as claimed in claim1, wherein: in step (b), the juice is extracted, concentrated, andstored in liquid concentrate tank(s).
 6. A method as claimed in claim 1,wherein: in step (c), the shredded matter is dried using hot flue gasfrom the sugar mill boiler, or from a separate furnace fired with sugarcane bagasse either fresh from the cane sugar mill or from a stockpile.7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein: the dried shredded materialis separated into coarse (stem) and fine (leaf) dry fibre fractions,which are optionally selectively recombined during later processing. 8.A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein: in step (d), the liquidbinder(s) include molasses, juice concentrate and other suitable liquidsto achieve the desired moisture content.
 9. A method as claimed in claim2, wherein: during, or after, step (d) other ingredients and additives,including vitamins, minerals, digestion improvers, antibiotics and otherpharmaceuticals are added to increase the value of the feed mealmaterial.
 10. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein: after step (d),the feed meal material undergoes further processing such as pelletising,crumbling, granulation, agglomeration, pressure compaction, cubing,extrusion, moulding, tableting, briquetting, baling or bagging to suitthe market requirements.
 11. A method of processing a legume fodder crop(as herein before defined) including the steps of: (a) delivering withminimum delay, freshly harvested legume fodder crop to a feed milllocated at/adjacent to a cane sugar mill; (b) processing the crop toproduce cut and/or shredded material; and (c) drying the cut and/orshredded material using heat supplied by the cane sugar mill or fromby-products of the cane sugar mill to produce a dried animal feedmaterial, suitable for long term storage.
 12. A method as claimed inclaim 11, including the further step: (d) baling the dried cut and/orshredded material (or hay).
 13. A method as claimed in claim 11,wherein: in step (b), the crop is processed using rotary knives to cutand/or shred the fibrous material.
 14. A method as claimed in claim 12,wherein: after step (d), the baled material (or hay) is outloaded orcontainerised for transport.
 15. A method as claimed in claim 12,wherein: at step (d), molasses is mixed with the dried material (or hay)to increase the nutritional value thereof.
 16. A method of producing ananimal feed product including the steps of: (i) growing a legume foddercrop (as hereinbefore defined) as a soil-enhancing fallow crop for sugarcane; (ii) harvesting the crop; (iii) delivering with minimum delay,freshly harvested crop to a feed mill located at/adjacent to a canesugar mill; (iv) processing the crop to seek optimised cell breakageand/or fiberisation (i.e., separation of fibre particles) in theresultant shredded material, depending on final product specificationsas required; and (v) drying the shredded material using heat supplied bythe cane sugar mill or from by-products of the cane sugar mill toproduce an animal feed material.
 17. A method as claimed in claim 16,including the further step: (vi) mixing the dried material with suitableliquid binder(s) to produce a feed meal material of suitable moisturecontent if required for use.
 18. A method for producing an animal feedproduct including the steps of: (i) growing a legume fodder crop (ashereinbefore defined) as a soil-enhancing fallow crop for sugar cane;(ii) harvesting the crop; (iii) delivering with minimum delay, freshlyharvested crop to a feed mill located at/adjacent a cane sugar mill;(iv) processing the crop to produce cut and/or shredded material; and(v) drying the cut and/or shredded material using heat supplied by thecane sugar mill or from by-products of the cane sugar mill to produce ananimal feed material.
 19. A method as claimed in claim 18, including thefurther step: (vi) baling the dried cut and/or shredded material (orhay).
 20. A method for producing an animal feed product including thesteps of: (i) growing a legume fodder crop (as hereinbefore defined) asa soil-enhancing fallow crop for sugar cane; (ii) harvesting the crop;and (iii) processing the crop by the method claimed in claim
 1. 21. Amethod for producing an animal feed product including the steps of: (i)growing a legume fodder crop (as hereinbefore defined) as asoil-enhancing fallow crop for sugar cane; (ii) harvesting the crop; and(iii) processing the crop by the method claimed in claim 11.